Against the politics of despair

Turkey, Palestine, Syria…sometimes when we make these ‘Editor’s Picks’ for Fair Planet, it can feel like shopping for atrocities: which is the most high-profile, hard-hitting, far-reaching? Trying to extract broad principles from horrific events is also often taxing: what can we learn/ think/ do about these events? The aim is to show or pledge solidarity with victims, and we hope at least to direct attention towards charities and civil society organisations working in the field – people who can help victims directly.

Ultimately, the aim to create awareness of injustice and oppression can itself become part of the problem – keyboard activists, saying everything, doing nothing, liberal, privileged, educated, safe Westerners writing about poor people elsewhere in the world– leaving both readers and writers feeling discouraged and despondent. After all, we’ve just written about a bad event, and you’ve just read about it; it’s somewhere else in the world, and there’s very little we can do.

I wish there was an easy solution. I really do wish I could say something deeply insightful about the 128 dead activists in Turkey or the calls for the third Intifada in the Israel/ Palestine region – I wish I could say something about the Syrian issue which didn’t focus entirely on geo-political strategies or presidential politics – and I really wish I could do more than simply point to potential outcomes, raise awareness and show solidarity.

Maybe I can, maybe I can’t. But the information and opinions we gather on this site might sometimes feel like the activities of despair – and it might leave you feeling bad, but that’s really not what we’re trying to do. Indeed, the more we give in to such feelings, the less we’re able to accomplish. I haven’t got any major recommendations against these inclinations, but I can say this: whatever we think about what we’re doing, whether we’re showing solidarity, or simply bleeding our hearts out, blog-fodder for right-wingers – people are suffering needlessly in our world.

And as such, it’s important to remind ourselves of that fact, and fight for what we can and support those who need it. Keep your battles local, and your knowledge global. Showing and pledging solidarity isn’t a waste of time. Despair is.